Switzerland supports data and statistics in developing countries through multilateral channels, bilateral co-operation and international advocacy. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) highlights the importance of data and statistical capacity for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) monitoring and the need to produce disaggregated data to ensure that no one is left behind. The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) provides funding for multilateral and bilateral initiatives that aim to strengthen capacity in macroeconomic and financial statistics, notably through its long-standing partnership with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). At the international level, Switzerland champions the importance of strong national data and statistical systems in developing countries and effective development co-operation for data and statistics.
Data for Development Profiles
Switzerland
Strategies, actors and funding
While Switzerland supports data and statistics in developing countries mainly through multilateral initiatives, Swiss development co-operation also provides bilateral financial assistance and peer-to-peer technical assistance for statistical systems. According to OECD data and research,1 its disbursements to data- and statistics-related activities averaged USD 8 million per year between 2017 and 2019 (in 2018 prices; Figure 1). Over this time period, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) together accounted for around 90% of the total Swiss support for data and statistics in developing countries. Specific examples include:
The SDC anchors “leave no one behind”, a pledge to focus support on the poor and those excluded from sustainable development, in all of its strategic documents and programmes. As part of the SDC’s Guidance on Leave No One Behind, the agency is committed to “[e]nhancing information systems and the production of disaggregated data that reveal the challenges of those left behind and strengthen[ing] the relationship between duty bearers and rights holders.”
The SDC provides bilateral funding for population censuses and birth registration in select countries and territories in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East (e.g. Albania, Benin, Kosovo, Moldova, the Palestinian Authority and Tajikistan), often in partnership with the Swiss Federal Statistical Office. It also supports the Partnership for Statistics in the 21st Century (PARIS21) and the United Nations’ Legal Identity for All initiative (CHF 2 million between 2018 and 2021). The SDC runs a range of programmes addressing global challenges such as climate change, water, food security, health and migration. In this context, it supports sector-specific data, often linked to SDG monitoring and in co-operation with United Nations custodian agencies. An example is the Integrated Monitoring of Water and Sanitation related SDG targets.
SECO is the Swiss federal government’s centre of excellence for all core issues relating to economic policy. Its aim is to ensure sustainable economic growth by putting in place the necessary regulatory and economic policy conditions. SECO’s Economic Cooperation and Development Division promotes economically, environmentally and socially sustainable growth which creates new jobs, facilitates increased productivity, and helps to reduce poverty and disparities. Its support to data and statistics in partner countries is thus often focused on macroeconomic and financial statistics.
SECO delivers its support in partnership with multilateral organisations, notably the IMF. This includes, since 2009, support of the IMF’s statistical capacity development and, more recently, support of the IMF’s Data for Decisions (D4D) Trust Fund, to which it committed CHF 4 million over the 2018-23 period. SECO also contributed to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization’s technical assistance to business registration reform in Viet Nam and is strengthening debt data transparency through multilateral initiatives such as the WB-IMF-led Debt Management Facility.
Figure 1. Switzerland – ODA to data and statistics, 2010-19
Note: ODA: official development assistance; CPA: country programmable aid.
Switzerland’s support for multilateral initiatives results in around half of its total support on data and statistics being allocable to specific countries. Key partners are the Palestinian Authority (various support to core statistical activities), Tajikistan (civil registry reform) and Viet Nam (business registration reform). Switzerland’s support aims to improve economic statistics as well as population and health statistics and general statistical capacity.
Switzerland supports key international initiatives, which aim to strengthen development co-operation for data and statistical systems in developing countries. It will be hosting the 3rd UN World Data Forum in Bern, planned initially for October 2020 and postponed to October 2021. This event aims to bring together international experts to find data-based solutions to help achieve the 2030 Agenda. Switzerland also co-chairs the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation, which supports efforts to put in place the conditions to foster data-centric national development and to promote the use and sharing of data and co-ordinated efforts for statistical capacity development.
Lessons learnt
A long-standing co-operation, recognised as a success by the SDC, existed with the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. The programme included core support amounting to CHF 1.8 million in its last phase (2015-17) and co-financing amounting to CHF 1.25 million for the Palestinian Population, Housing and Establishment Census 2017. While the attempt to create a multi-donor funding mechanism did not succeed and Swiss support has since ended, the programme succeeded in ultimately ensuring that the Palestinian Authority increased the amount of domestic resources allocated to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
Thematic focus
Between 2017 and 2019, a large share (91%) of Switzerland’s official development assistance (ODA) to data and statistics aimed to strengthen participatory development (i.e. development that seeks to engage local populations in development projects) and good governance. Forty-one per cent had gender quality as a policy objective (Figure 2). More than one-third (37%) of its ODA aimed to improve the availability and reliability of economic statistics, 19% aimed to strengthen population and health statistics, and 12% was targeted to improving general statistical capacity building.
Figure 2. Switzerland – ODA to data and statistics by policy objective and statistical domain, 2017‑19
Share of total
Notes: DAC: Development Assistance Committee. Based on gross disbursements. Policy markers for disability and nutrition were reported for the first time for 2018 and 2019 and the figure reports their share in total ODA to data and statistics in these two years combined.
Geographic focus
A large share of Switzerland’s ODA to data and statistics, nearly half between 2017 and 2019, cannot be allocated to specific regions, i.e. it is channelled through global and multilateral initiatives. The remainder has largely been targeted to a select group of partners primarily in Asia and Europe (Figure 3 and Figure 4).
Figure 3. Switzerland – country-allocable ODA to data and statistics, 2017-19
Notes: Based on gross disbursements. Hollow circles indicate relative share in total country-allocable gross disbursements.
Figure 4. Switzerland – ODA to data and statistics by region and recipient
Share of total
Note: Based on gross disbursements.
Around 45% of Switzerland’s bilateral support between 2017 and 2019 was allocated to specific partner countries (Figure 5). Three key partners, Albania, the Palestinian Authority and Tajikistan, accounted for about one third or Switzerland’s total spend over this time period.
Figure 5. Switzerland – ODA to data and statistics by partner country characteristics
Notes: Based on gross disbursements. Left panel: LIC: low-income country; LMIC: lower middle-income country; UMIC: upper middle-income country; HIC: high-income country. Right panel: ODA: official development assistance. Based only on country-allocable official development assistance. The trend line is based on a local polynomial regression with a bandwidth of unity.
Modalities and channels of delivery
In 2017-19, 57% of Switzerland’s support to data and statistics was delivered in the form of project-type interventions (Figure 6). The remainder was delivered in the form of contributions to specific programmes of partners, typically multilateral organisations, a modality that has become more important for Switzerland in recent years.
Figure 6. Switzerland – ODA to data and statistics by type of aid
Share of total
Notes: Based on gross disbursements. NGO: non-governmental organisation; PPP: public-private partnership; TA: technical assistance.
Almost two-thirds (64%) of Switzerland’s ODA to data and statistics were channelled through multilateral organisations between 2017 and 2019 (Figure 7). Collaborations with multilateral organisations include the IMF’s Data for Decisions (D4D) Fund, the United Nations Development Program’s Legal Identity for All initiative and funding of activities of PARIS21.
Figure 7. Switzerland – ODA to data and statistics by channel
Notes: Based on gross disbursements. NA: not applicable; NGO: non-governmental organisation; UNDP: United Nations Develoment Programme; UNIDO: United Nations Industrial Development Organization; IOM: International Organization for Migration; UN: United Nations; IMF: International Monetary Fund.
Box 1. Switzerland – related documents
Strategies, project documents, evaluations
SDC: Project P20: Collecting better data on the poorest 20% of the Beninese population
SDC: Integrated Monitoring of Water and Sanitation related SDG targets (GEMI)
SDC: Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) Core Funding 2015-2017
Swiss Federal Statistical Office: Newsletter on international co-operation “Beyond the Horizon”
The Road to Bern, a series of events leading to the United Nations World Data Forum, and the Bern Network on Financing Data for Development, an open, multi-stakeholder alliance to support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by promoting more and better financing for data
Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation action area on “strengthening effective support to statistical capacity and data”
The IMF’s Data for Decisions (D4D) Fund
Note
← 1. The analysis in this profile is based on official data reported by members to the OECD’s Creditor Reporting System. It is published under the responsibility of the OECD. OECD analysts mined the database using a text search with manual curation. Where relevant, members contributed additional data to fill gaps. Please see the methodological annex for further details on the data analysis.